I would slip anchor, watch the patchwork sails,
Swell-bellied with the winter’s cracklip blast,
Strain sunset-bright against their hempen bonds
As sea-soaked shadows scud their faces, cast
By clouds that brave the billows, daring down
The crashing wave that breaks across the bow
And, kissing-close, entwine the rising mist
That coils its serpent-scales around the prow
So figureheaded, let my word-borne craft
Cross seas wine-dark, moon-pale and corpse-kiss grey
Where islands bright as jewels and dark as pitch
Hold secrets safe in cave and port and bay
Then let me stay a while, drop anchor here
And dive beneath the ocean’s moonglass face
Submerge in story, lose myself anew
Another time, another world, another place